Courtesy photo

WHO: Ricky Armendariz, 37

MEDIA: Paint

BEST KNOWN FOR: Paintings of dramatic Texas sunsets on birch plywood with images referencing American and Chicano culture carved into them. His latest series of work includes themes of immigration, conservation and the American idealization of the loner. He relies heavily on images and experiences from his childhood in El Paso, as well as archetypes he sees in movies, books and music. One painting features the carved image of a 1957 Chevy that seems to be flying toward heaven. “For me, car and car culture is a very big part of who I am and how I was raised,” Armendariz said. “And this notion of the open road goes back to manifest destiny, and this notion that this land that we're on is open and free. This idea that things are limitless.” Another work depicts a milk jug hovering over the landscape, similar to the plastic milk jugs filled with water that are left along the border for immigrants coming from Mexico. Armendariz acknowledges that sunsets are generally scorned in the contemporary art world, but “I can't help but be overwhelmed and blown away by something so naturally beautiful,” he said. “I wasn't raised with a barometer to specially weed out fine art versus provincial art. My aesthetic was molded from a very young age by a lot of things that would be labeled kitsch.”

BACKGROUND: Armendariz earned his BFA at UTSA and his MFA at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is married with three children.

PAYING THE BILLS: Armendariz teaches painting and drawing at UTSA.

CHECK HIM OUT: His current exhibit, “Lonesome Roads are the Only Kinds I Seem to Travel,” is at REM Gallery in the Blue Star Arts Complex through Saturday, Aug. 25. Call (210) 224-1227.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA Contributor